Avocado Lifehack Lesson Learned

One of my favorite hashtags of all time is #lifehacks. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, lifehacks are shortcuts or novelty methods of performing an everyday task that make your life easier.

A few months back I discovered an avocado-related lifehack thanks to a Buzzfeed article titled “21 Incredibly Important Diagrams to Help You Get Through Life” The original image came from a website called Northwest Edible Life which suggests that you “discreetly flick the dry stem off the fruit” and take a peek at the exposed patch of fruit; if it’s black you put it back, if it’s yellowish-green, you’re good to go.

Previously I’d been doing more of a press-test; feel the avocado from the outside and if it’s too soft or too firm I’d put it back, but I’d been burned by not-quite-ripe avocados this way. Now, armed with this new knowledge I was picking avocados with the greatest of ease.

Flash forward to New Year’s Eve when my S.O. and I were shopping with our culinary friend at Whole Foods for the evening’s menu; I was all too excited to tell him about this helpful trick. He kindly informed me that, unfortunately, this lifehack is poor produce etiquette. The stem is still in place because it helps keep the fruit from rotting; by removing it you’re shortening the shelf-life of the fruit. It’s kind of like opening a carton of milk to smell if it’s spoiled and then putting it back for someone else to buy. Lesson learned; when it comes to avocados it’s back to the press-test for me.

Do you have a produce pet-peeve? How about a proper way to predict the ripeness of produce? Leave your helpful hints in the comments!